Egypt court recommends death for 2 Al-Jazeera employees

An Egyptian court has recommended the death sentence against six people, including two Al-Jazeera employees, for allegedly passing documents related to national security to Qatar and the Doha-based TV network during the rule of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.

A verdict on Morsi, ousted by the military in 2013, and four other defendants in the case, will be announced June 18.

The two Al-Jazeera employees — identified by the judge on Saturday as news producer Alaa Omar Mohammed and news editor Ibrahim Mohammed Hilal — were sentenced in absentia.

Judge Mohammed Shireen Fahmy says case documents pertaining to all six would be sent to the Grand Mufti, Egypt’s top religious authority, for his review.